Re: Mason 461, 0-4-4T or 0-4-2T

Okay. I read Garrie's discussion about the "Onward" and even received a phone call from him (we've talked several times over the years) and even a follow-up email.

[Garrie reads this discussion board and that has prompted a number of phone calls to me or to at least one of the other posters. He says that very few people know has email; he prefers to correspond by regular mail.]

Garrie Tuford's write-up about the "Onward" is a well documented, 6-page article about the locomotive and its history. It is probably one of Arthur Wallace's resources.

Garrie relates that Arthur Wallace provided him with information from an early locomotive roster compiler, John Lozier, had made notes from a list (drawing type) in the U.P. Valuation files that describe an engine built by Mason with a one axle tender, 34" drivers, five-foot driver centers, and 11x15 cylinders. This sounds like a 0-4-2 (rear-tank). And it matches the 1885 printed roster -- a 0-4-2 has six wheels.

Garrie believes that the locomotive was rebuilt, but does not know if in Nevada or by the Union Pacific. The rebuilt was probably to remove the one weak point in the Mason Bogie design -- the combine swivel for connecting the power truck to the boiler and supplying the steam to the power truck (engine). This component went though many modifications during the first years of Mason Bogie production. Prior to the "Onward" Mason had constructed one standard-gauge, double-truck, double-boiler Fairlie. The "Onward" was Mason's first bogie type -- a prototype that needed design improvement.

I would think that the UP/UN was the probable re-builder of the locomotive. Yes, a photo or photos of the locomotive in service on one of the subsequent owner's roads would be excellent.

Brian Norden